Bookbinding oversewing machine attachment



March 24, 1970 J. CRAWFORD 3,502,043

BOQKBINDING OVERSEWING MACHINE ATTACHMENT Filed May 5. 1967 INVENTOR 30 z/A Y (AAWFOAD BY 47; Ma r 4 ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,502,043 BOOKBINDIN G OVERSEWIN G MACHINE ATTACHMENT Jay Crawford, 754 Delaware Ave., Akron, Ohio 44303 Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 504,404,

Oct. 24, 1965. This application May 5, 1967, Ser.

Int. Cl. B42b 1/04; B251) 5/16 US. Cl. 112-21 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An attachment for altering the position of a section of pages of a book being sewn on an oversewing machine relative to the thread carrying needle.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 504,404 filed Oct. 24, 1965, directed to a Method of Converting Paper Back Books to Hard Back Books, now Patent 3,334,919.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The invention relates generally to bookbinding and particularly to an oversewing machine by which sections of pages are sewn together during the making of the books.

Description of the prior art Oversewing machines have been in use in bookbinding for many years; however, the angular relationship between the clamping plates and the needle has been fixed so that the sections of pages between the clamping plates have been sewn together at a predetermined angle. This angle has been such that it has been necessary for the needle to enter the uppermost section of pages at least A of an inch in from the edge in order to sew the uppermost section of pages to a plurality of lower sections of pages and thereby provide a binding that would hold up under use. In the converting of paper back books to hard back books, the oversewing process has been a problem due to the nearness of the printing or text to the edge of the page. This nearness has been acceptable in paper backs since the pages are merely glued together; however, conventional oversewing with the needle entering the page A of an inch from the edge has been too close to the printing to permit easy reading and when the needles were moved outwardly toward the edge of the page, the sewing would not stand up during use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is an adapter for an oversewing machine by which the sections of pages are arranged in slightly overlapping relation with each other and the angle of penetration of the needle is altered to enter the upper page at a distance of A; of an inch from the edge of the page and pass through several sections of pages to sew multiple sections together. This permits the book to be opened sufficiently to be easily read while such sewing will stand up to repeated use.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of an oversewing machine illustrating one use of the invention;

FIG. 2, an enlarged fragmentary perspective of one of the adapters;

FIG. 3, an enlarged fragmentary perspective of the other adapter;

FIG. 4, an enlarged fragmentary detail section of the present invention; and,

3,502,043 Patented Mar. 24, 1970 'ice The present invention is an attachment for an oversewing machine 10 having a back plate 11 which normally is slidably mounted on a housing (not shown). An upper clamp plate 12 is fixed to the back plate 11 and such clamp plate is provided with a series of openings 13 to permit a punch (not shown) and a needle 14 carried by a sewing head 15 to pass therethrough. A lower clamp plate 16 is slidably mounted on the back plate 11 in any desired manner. The lower clamp plate 16 is adapted to be moved toward and from the upper clamp plate 12 to clamp one or more sections of pages 17 which are to be bound together into a book. The movement of the lower clamp plate 16 can be accomplished in and desired manner as by a lug 18 mounted on the back plate 11 and threadedly engaging a bolt 19 one end of which is connected by a swivel connection to the lower clamp plate 16. The opposite end of the bolt 19 has an operating handle 20 by means of which the bolt can be rotated to advance or retract the lower clamp plate 16 relative to the upper clamp plate 12.

The clamp plates 12 and 16 are disposed substantially at a right angle to the back plate 11 and at an angle of approximately 30 from the horizontal so that the needle 14, which is generally vertical, will penetrate the sections of pages at an angle of 60. Each of the sections of pages being sewn is approximately A6 of an inch thick and, as illustrated in FIG. 5, when the needle enters the uppermost section at a distance of A of an inch from the edge such needle will penetrate the top section and four or five additional sections to firmly bind the sections together.

In order to sew the sections at a distance of Ms of an inch from the edge, a fiat plate of approximate thickness can be placed under the upper clamp plate 12 so that the sections of pages will be spaced further down on the back plate 11 and the needle will penetrate the upper section along the line 34 (FIG. 5). When the needle is located along this line, it will penetrate the upper section and one or two additional sections. This will result in stitching which will not stand up in use. The structure thus far described is conventional in bookbinding and forms no part of the invention.

The present invention is an adapter for an oversewing machine which alters the angle of penetration of the needle into the sections of pages without changing the fixed angle of the oversewing machine. The adapter includes a lower wedge shaped member 21 and an upper wedge shaped member 22. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the lower member 21 has a relatively thin front edge 23 and diverging upper and lower surfaces 24 and 25 which taper rearwardly at a constant rate and terminate in a relatively thick rear edge 26 which is located adjacent to the back plate '11. A plurality of spaced recesses 27 are disposed along the rear edge 26 to permit a punch and the needle 14 to pass therethrough during the sewing operation.

As illustrated in FIG. 3 the upper member 22 is provided with a relatively thick front edge 28 and upper and lower surfaces 29 and 30 which converge in a rearward direction at a constant rate and terminate in a relatively thin rear edge 31. A plurality of spaced recesses 32 which are aligned with the recesses 27 in use are disposed along the rear edge 31 to permit the needle 14- to pass therethrough and penetrate the sections of pages 17. The lower and upper members 21 and 22 each are provided with a plurality of recessed openings 33 to accommodate screws or other fasteners by means of which such lower and upper members are attached to the lower clamp plate 16 and the upper clamp plate 12, respectively.

When the lower and upper members are attached to their respective clamp plates, the upper surface 24 of the lower member 21 will be generally parallel with the lower surface 30 of the upper member 22 so that the sections of pages 17 can be clamped between such lower and upper members.

In the operation of the device the upper member 22 is mounted by screws or other fasteners on the upper clamp plate 12 and the lower member 21 is mounted on the lower clamp plate after which a first section of pages 17 is disposed between the members 21 and 22 and the handle 20 is operated to clamp the sections of pages between such members. A punch (not shown) is then forced downwardly through the recesses 32 of the upper member, through the pages of the section 17 and then through corresponding recesses 27 in the lower member 21. Thereafter the needle 14 passes downwardly through the openings formed by the punch to sew the pages together. After the first section of pages has been sewn the handle 20 is operated to separate the lower and upper members a sufiicient distance to insert a second section of pages and then the handle is operated to clamp the second section of pages to the first section and the sewing operation is repeated.

When the second section of pages is placed on the first, the rear edge of the second section will be in slightly overlapping relation with the rear edge of the first section due to the angularity of the lower and upper members relative to the back plate 11, since the surfaces of such members which contact the pages are at an angle other than norm-a1 to the back plate 11. With this construction the needle can be caused to penetrate the uppermost section of pages at a distance of A3 of an inch from the rear edge of the pages and then will penetrate two or three additional sections of pages to firmly connect the uppermost section of pages to the previous sections which have already been sewn. After the book has been completed such book may be easily opened to expose the written matter on the pages and such sewing will stand up under repeated use.

It will be apparent that a relatively simple attachment for an oversewing machine has been provided which will permit the sewing needle to penetrate the pages at a distance of approximately A; of an inch fromthe edge and thereafter pass through several additional sections to firmly join the sections together.

What is claimed is:

1. An oversewing machine having sewing means for sewing together a plurality of sections of pages of a book comprising a back plate carried by said oversewing machine and having a planar surface located at a predetermined angle to a horizontal plane, an upper means fixed to said back plate, said upper means having a bottom planar surface disposed at an acute angle relative to said back plate, a movable lower means adjustably carried by said back plate below said upper means, means for moving said lower means toward and from said upper means, said lower means having an upper planar surface disposed at an obtuse angle relative to said back plate and generally parallel with the lower planar surface of said upper means, said upper means and said lower means being adapted to receive a plurality of sections of pages of a book therebetween, said sewing means being carried by said oversewing machine in spaced relation to said upper and lower means, and each of said upper and lower means having a plurality of aligned openings along the edges adjacent to said back plate to permit said sewing means to pass through said sections of pages, whereby the sections of pages are disposed at an angle relative to said back plate so that said sewing means connects multiple sections of pages together.

2. The structure of claim 1 in which the bottom planar surface of said upper means and the upper planar surface of said lower means are formed by wedge shaped membets.

3. Apparatus for use with an oversewing machine for sewing together a plurality of sections of pages of a book comprising a back plate carried by said oversewing machine and having a planar surface located at a predetermined angle to a horizontal plane, an upper clamp plate fixed to said back plate, said upper clamp plate having a lower planar surface disposed generally normal to said back plate, a first wedge shaped member mounted on the lower planar surface of said clamp plate and having a relatively thin edge located adjacent to said back plate, said first Wedge shaped member having a lower planar surface disposed at an acute angle to said back plate, a movable lower clamp plate adjustably mounted adjacent to said back plate, means for moving said lower clamp plate toward and from said upper clamp plate, a second wedge shaped member mounted on said lower clamp plate, said second wedge shaped member having an upper planar surface disposed at an obtuse angle relative to said back plate and generally parallel with the lower planar surface of said first wedge shaped member, said second Wedge shaped member having a relatively thick edge located adjacent to said back plate, said first and second wedge shaped members adapted to receive a plurality of sections of pages of a book therebetween, the rear portion of one section of pages being in overlapping relation with the rear portion of another section of pages, sewing means carried by said oversewing machine and located above said upper clamp plate, the relatively thin edge of said first wedge shaped member and the relatively thick edge of said second wedge shaped member having a series of aligned horizontally spaced openings for the passage of said sewing means, whereby said sections of pages are disposed at an angle relative to said back plate so that said sewing means connects multiple sections of pages together approximately oneeighth of an inch from the rear portion of the uppermost section of pages.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,093,694 4/1914 Griesinger l12-2l 2,800,095 7/1957 Schramm ll22l 3,334,919 8/1967 Crawford 281-29 MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner GEORGE V. LARKIN, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 269-277 

